Chapter 36 - The Agency Has Been Hacked

When Lee arrived at the agency, he motioned for Francine to follow him and they both went to Billy's office. After they were seated inside, Lee asked "Any more information on Carew?"

"Not really" Francine answered. "We know that he has never been married. It looks like he has never even had a serious girlfriend before. There is even a chance that he and Larisa are an actual item."

"So the only way to catch him is to nab his girlfriend? Is that what you are telling us Francine?" Lee asked.

"Why Scarecrow? You are the expert here." Francine said with a smile. "Surely you don't need my help to catch a bad guy since you take Amanda on all your assignments now. Perhaps Amanda can wave a red Apron at him and he will come charging right to her and confess all his sins."

"Can it Francine" Billy and Lee both said at once.

Billy was rubbing his temples with his hand as he thought.

"Well we can't tip our hand too quickly because Larisa will know immediately something is wrong if he is even brought in for questioning. That would leave Mrs. King very vulnerable. I think we put a tail on him at all times and see if he incriminates himself."

"Is he scheduled to work this weekend?" Lee asked.

"He's working on Friday and Saturday but off on Sunday." Billy answered. "Do you think he will follow them as soon as he is off the clock?"

"I would stake my life on it. What's his assignment load right now?" Lee asked.

Billy looked at Francine who pulled out some paperwork and looked at it.

"Oh oh, he's scheduled to be at Dulles with us on Friday. How did that happen?"

"How the hell did that happen?" Billy asked.

"Let me go look" Francine said. She hurried out to her desk where she typed several things into her computer. A few minutes later she was back in Billy's office with a grim expression.

"It looks like someone hacked the computer. I'm sure when I looked earlier, Carew was assigned to a simple surveillance job at a local factory. Suddenly he has been assigned for Dulles and he has been given high priority clearance."

"The Night Owl Society" Lee and Billy said together. "Damn it" Billy exclaimed. That means they have figured out how to hack into the Agency's computers. Francine alert security and the IT department. We need to stop them before they begin stealing any information.

"I'm on it." Francine said as she hurried off.

Lee closed the door after she left. "Billy I don't think they hacked the computers this time to get information. They know that if they did that, it would alert us to trouble and the whole department would go into a shut down. I think they just hacked the computer to change his schedule and figured no one would notice."

"You may be right." Billy said. "I hope you are right. However, it means they can hack into our computers."

"True. Don't worry Billy, the IT guys will figure it out. That's what those geeks do. Come on, we need to figure out what we are going to do about Carew being at Dulles tomorrow."

"We do nothing."

"What?!" Lee questioned.

"We do nothing. Let's see what they have in mind. We will make sure we have plenty of coverage and someone will be on Carew the whole time watching him but let's let it play out however they want it to. Amanda is doing the transport. I think this is still a deflection on their part. Carew might be there to make it look more legitimate."

Lee had begun pacing again and stopped. "Billy, you might be right. What if he makes it out a big deal so that it keeps us busy while meanwhile the transport can slip away without anyone noticing?"

"Exactly. Only, we aren't going to put all our agents at Dulles. We are going to use some of our newer guys partnered up with experienced agents. It will give them a chance to be out in the field while leaving the majority of experienced agents available to help track the transport. Carew won't have a clue that he is being set up so he should continue with whatever plan they have arranged. In the meantime, if we are wrong, we will still have coverage at Dulles. We won't tell the rookies anything about Carew but the seasoned agents will know so they can all watch him."

Lee was nodding in agreement. "It's a smart move. Must be why they pay you the big bucks Billy."

Billy chuckled and said "Someday you will have this job and you will eat those words."

Lee suddenly looked at his watch. "Billy, I have to go. I need to be at the house before Larisa arrives to see Amanda."

"Call me later and let me know how the meeting goes."

I will. We're close on this one Billy. I just know that we are finally going to nail Larisa once and for all."

"I hope you are right. She's a crafty one. Let's get her behind bars before we get too confident though, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. After all, we are talking about Amanda here. Anything could go wrong." Lee said as he shut the door to Billy's office and headed as fast as he could for the elevator. He sure wasn't protecting her very well if he couldn't get to the house before Larisa arrived.

TBC